The Tongue of the Flame
by The Writer Triumphant
Summary: Inwardly, Aang laughed. One day they were fighting each other to the death, the next they were talking girls? “Katara… a couple of times,” he admitted, recalling both kisses. “Breathing for Firebending is like that,” Zuko explained. Post 3.13


**The Tongue of the Flame**

**Disclaimer:** I live with my parents. Seriously now. _Avatar: the Last Airbender _belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who, for some reason, have agreed to let their amazing series be made into a live action movie.

To be directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

And wait, _what_? _I_ don't own rights?

* * *

**"Y**ou're going to be a great Firebender."

It was strange, Aang decided, to hear praise coming from Zuko. Strange, but pleasant. He wasn't so afraid of fire anymore, not after what he and Zuko had witnessed between the masters. But still, he knew he had quite a ways to go before he could bend fire comfortably. In his past life as Roku, fire had been his greatest strength. It usually happened that the last element was the hardest to remaster.

They'd started training at sunrise. "The sun blesses Firebenders with its energy just as the moon does for Waterbenders," Zuko said as they watched it put full light on the earth. "You know that, though." He smiled a little. "Tell me about the first time you learned Firebending."

Hesitantly, Aang began the story of how he, Katara and Sokka had met the deserter, how it had been difficult to get him to agree to the training.

"I guess he was right," he finished. "I wasn't' ready then. And when I hurt Katara, I was scared. I still am. Not as much, though."

"You don't have to be scared. I'm going to teach you control." A wry sort of smile touched even his scarred eye as Zuko spoke. "It took me a while to learn. But you're a smart kid."

They faced the golden sun and slowly sank into relaxed neutral positions.

"Now," Zuko murmured quietly, "We're going to start with some fire punches. Roundhuose them and release fire, a little bit at a time. Build it up to as much as you're comfortable with."

Aang nodded, faced the sun, and shifted his stance to a more offensive one just slightly, bringing his arm around in an arch, striking. A sizeable flame erupted from the end of the blow. And again.

After a few rounds, Zuko's hand settled on his bare shoulder. "Good."

Despite the encouraging tone, he was frowning slightly.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Zuko gestured for him to relax his stance. "As an Airbender, you have an advantage in Firebending. Airbenders are good breathers. Fire cannot exist without air. But I've noticed that when you use airbending, you keep the flow of air around you going at a constant rate."

Aang nodded.

"As a Firebender, you have to learn to manipulate your breathing. Tame it to stop, come faster, slow itself." He closed his eyes, holding out one hand, and demonstrated. A flame burst from the air over his palm, became very small, grew again, flickered, shrank and died before turning up again. Aang held out his own hand and tried, but he couldn't get it back once it had gone out, not as quickly as Zuko had, and not nearly as big.

"Have you ever kissed a girl before?" Zuko asked suddenly.

Aang nodded, embarrassment evident on his face as it was on Zuko's for asking the question. Inwardly, Aang laughed. One day they were fighting each other to the death, the next they were talking girls?

"Katara… a couple of times," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, recalling both kisses.

"Breathing for Firebending is like that," Zuko explained, the uncomfortable expression fading a little.

Aang's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, Sifu?"

"I mean the way you breathe when you kiss a girl is how you should breathe when you bend fire."

Again, Aang looked confused. "But…" the first kiss had been too brief to count, maybe. The second? More real, for sure, but, "I never had to breathe when I kissed her. I thought that was the point."

A look of mingled annoyance and amusement crossed Zuko's face. He sighed. "How…" and the uncomfortable expression was comgin back "…how did you kiss her?"

Aang shrugged. "Just… a kiss." His brow furrowed again. Not _just_ a kiss. "On the lips," he added.

Zuko nodded, understanding. "Not a… not a deep kiss, then."

Aang turned slightly pink. "Well, no. Not really. No." _No?_

"Well, when you kiss a girl…" Zuko wondered when this was going to stop being awkward, "You breathe through your nose sometimes and through your mouth other times… altering the pressure between. Part of it is so you stay in control, the other part is to make it pleasurable for the both of you."

Aang was staring at his feet at this point. Zuko imagined that he must be drifting into a daydream featuring that Water Tribe girl. He smirked.

"I don't know if I get it," Aang confessed. Zuko sighed and ran a hand through his long hair, flicking it out absently.

"Maybe you should ask _Katara_ to help you figure it out," he suggested, half teasing.

The Avatar made a strangled sort of noise and snapped his eyes back upward. "Do you have any idea how _embarrassing_ that would be?" he near whispered. "Asking Katara to teach me how to _kiss_ her?" His voice tilted higher at the last. Zuko could have laughed.

"It was only a joke," he muttered.

Aang seemed to contemplate it. Their lesson had come to a hiatus for the moment. Suddenly, eyes alight with eagerness, he grasped Zuko's shoulders. "_You_ can teach me, Zuko!"

The Prince blinked. "I've been trying to explain."

Aang shook his head, turning slightly pink again. "No. I mean… teach me how to kiss!"

Zuko favored his pupil with his best we-are-not-amused glare and shook him off a little roughly. "No."

"But it's for _Firebending_, right?" Aang reasoned. "And besides…" his brow furrowed again. "Besides… it's not important. Not like with Katara."

Zuko sighed. "Fine. But pay attention. I'm only doing this once."

It was an awkward situation, to say the least. Aang closing his eyes and humming quietly in anticipation, the sun climbing to full rise in the east – the view was almost _romantic_ – and the fact that this was probably at the top of the list of things that Zuko never intended to do to the Avatar.

Regardless, he decided to get it over with and carefully closed the distance between them, noting how much shorter the younger boy was. His lips were soft, light, and airy. Zuko pressed his own heated ones to them, exhaling slowly through his nose, nipped at Aang's lower lip. Squinting his good eye open, he noticed the furrowed brow, a slight bend in the arrow of his forehead. He coaxed again, pressing a little more, flicking his tongue out to trace the seam of the boy's lips. Aang gave a little gasp, an opportunity for Zuko to mingle their breathing, deepen the kiss just a little. He pulled back, exhaling sharply through his nose. Aang mirrored it. Good. Again, he pressed his lips full onto the other's, slowly pushing his tongue in. He was only slightly surprised when Aang fought back gently. Then, a hand. Slipping under the folds of his shirtfront, palm pressing boldly to his chest. Aang was feeling how his lungs were controlling the breaths. Zuko gripped his wrist and drew back slightly, breathing in, dragging his lips over Aang's. The Avatar's breath shuddered. The kiss broke.

After a long silence, Aang put out his hand and tried again. The tongue of flame over his open palm flickered, grew, shrank, died, and returned. Perfectly.

"Do you… do you think we could go over that again? Just in case?" he asked quietly, looking up, the gold of the sun touching the steely gray of his eyes.

* * *

**- The Writer**


End file.
